Marina Nikolova

The prestigious “Golden Alexander” award for best film was given to Abdolreza Kahani for his film “Over There.” The prize was 37 000 Euros and it was given by the great Greek director Theo Angelopoulos. “I dedicate this award to the Greek and Iranian people,” said the excited Iranian director Kahani.

“This year the level of the competition part was better than the years before, commented “Eleftheros Tipos” newspaper. Amongst the awarded films were the ones most commented, but not in the order, which the audience expected.

For example, Romanian film “Hooked,” directed by Adrian Sitaro, took the “Silver Alexander,” and became a much discussed one because of its distinction. The film screenings were crowded and Greek movie critics were asking themselves “OK, can’t we make movies like the Romanians? Keeping in mind that only 3 people were enough for the director because he had something to say,” continues “Eleftheros Tipos.”

The awarded Iranian film “Over There” was preferred by a jury of critics, with Canadian Michael Ondaatje as a jury president. The film tells a story of an Iranian living in America whose green card expires. He has 10 days left to leave Iran and go to the US to renew it. Unfortunately he cannot leave the country because of problems with his wife. Both of them need the 500 golden coins, which belong to the family, and expect the happy days to come without realizing that those days are the ones they are spending together.

Even though the audience loved the Romanian film, it voted for the French “Sunny Spells” (“Le Bruit des gens autour”) of Diastème. Another discussed film was the Australian one – “Three Blind Mice” by Matthew Newton, which received an award for its script. The award for best director unexpectedly went to Argentinean Celina Murga for her film “One Week Alone.”

The country’s co-production award went to 31 year old director Alexander Avranas for his film “Without.” It was the Greek film, which was mostly discusses, standing out from its competition, and indisputably one of the audience favorites.
(http://tiff.filmfestival.gr/inst/Festival/gallery/FilmFestival/49/Trailers/mov/without.mov)

The second Greek film award was given to “Slaves in Their Bonds,” by Adonis Likouresis, based on the book by Konstantinos Theotokis.
(http://tiff.filmfestival.gr/inst/Festival/gallery/FilmFestival/49/Trailers/mov/Sklavi_Sta_Desma_Tous.mov)

With few questions about the 49th Thessaloniki Film Fest we turned to cinema lovers, who visit the festival every year but all of them are also professionally connected to it.

Lucas Tzuknidas: The price of tickets went up to 7 Euros.

Why did you go to the festival and what does it mean to you?

- Because it is connected to my job. Cinema is a direct important form of entertainment.

Was there something, which surprised you this year?

- The movie “Morning Drunkenness” by a 22 year old Korean director – the technical side was bad, but it managed to excite everyone with its humor and unexpected turns.

Which film won you over and why?

- “Hooked” by Adrian Sitaro, because he uses the camera language very beautifully, in order to tell an interesting story and to build the main characters.

Did you do to any of the seminars, which were done by Oliver Stone, Jan Pierre and Luke Dardenne, Takeshi Kitano and other famous creators? What did you like?

- I went to Diablo Cody’s lecture – the director of “Juno,” who talked about her movie experience on an understandable language without any pompous stupidities.

What was the difference between this year’s festival and the ones before?

- The prices of the tickets went up to seven Euros.

What is your overall opinion of the festival this year?

- Bad organization and an average level presented movie-productions.

Lucas Tzuknidas works as a movie critic for the website www.in2life.gr, and two years ago he starts the .pdf publication monkiemag.blogspot.com.

Yannis Palavos: The Festival was nice just like every year.

Why did you go to the festival this year and what does it mean to you?

- I went because it is the only opportunity to see some of the best films, which are coming out now and to feel like a participant in the world movie-map.

Was there anything, which surprised you?

- The many seminars, which were made by very good directors, screenwriters, and movie-lovers in general – each one is great in what they do. It was talked about that the Festival is disorganized this year, I don’t think this was true. The only negative thing was that the ticket price went from five to seven Euros, this surprised me.

Which film impressed you and why?

- Terence Davies’ film “Of Time and The City.” This is the kind of film I would create if I were a director.

What was the difference between this years festival and the ones before?

- Nothing was really different. It was nice as always.

What are you going to remember it for?

- As always with the good films and the feeling of a parallel reality, where you don’t talk about your job, about money, or about what you do with your live but about cinema, exhibitions, you meet loved creators. So it’s great. This year was like all the ones before.

Did you talk to any of the Bulgarian participants of the Festival?

- I got an interview from Svetoslav Ovcharov and Yavor Gardev, both of them were polite and accurate. It my opinion though that Gardev’s film “Zincograph” was better.

Yannis Palavos is the author of a collection of essays called “True love and other stories.” During 2005 he wins first prize for young authors in a competition done in the British Council and during 2007 he was proposed for the prize of the prestigious Greek Literature Magazine. Yannis is part of the Thessaloniki Film Fest magazine team.

And here are the awarded films, among which are two Bulgarian productions – Yavor Gardev’s “Zincograph” and Iglika Triffonova’s “False Witness.”

- Best Feature Film Award - Golden Alexander (37.000 euros): “Over There” by Abdolreza Kahani, Iran

- Special Jury Award - Silver Alexander (22.000 euros): “Hooked” by Adrian Sitaru

- Best Director Award to Celina Murga for “A Week Alone”

- Best Screenplay Award to Matthew Newton for “Three Blind Mice”

- Best Actress Award ex aequo to Ioana Flora and Maria Dinulescu for “Hooked”

- Best Actor Award ex aequo to Sid Lucero and Emilio Garcia for “The Inmate”

- FISCHER PUBLIC CHOICE AWARDS to “Sunny Spells” by Diasteme

- THE GREEK FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION (PEKK) AWARD to “The Night Fernando Pessoa Met Constantine Cavafy” by Stelios Charalambopoulos

Two awards were given to Bulgarian films:

- BALKAN FUND - Script Development AWARDS (10.000 EUROS) to “Zincograph” by Vladislav Todorov and Director Javor Gardev

- CROSSROADS - Co-production Forum AWARD (16.000 EUROS) to “False Witness” by Director Iglika Triffonova and Producer Rossitsa Valkova.